Birthdays are literally my favourite thing. I get more excited for my birthday every year than I do for Christmas, I just love the idea of a day dedicated to you. Also, it comes with cake and any day that carries with it the assumption of cake is a good day.
Today is Boyfriend’s birthday and I think I’m more excited than he is because it’s time for me to win; Boyfriend is so good at giving gifts that it’s become a bit of a competition to see who can get the other the better gift, and since he won Christmas I have to win his birthday so that I can gloat about my championship for at least the next five months until our anniversary. This sounds twisted I know, birthdays shouldn’t be about winning; but I’m a competitive person and Boyfriend is so good at finding the perfect gift that I didn’t even know I wanted to now it’s my turn to blow his mind with my thoughtfulness!
When it came time to start thinking about birthday presents I wracked my brain to come up with something perfect and then I found it; FAO Schwarz in New York has an online Muppet workshop where you can design and order you own Muppet. Boyfriend who lost his mind when he discovered the original Muppet series on Netflix has always wanted his own Muppet but he’s never been able to get one made. It’s the perfect mix of childhood fantasy and wish fulfillment and I think for the first time since we started dating over a year and a half ago I may be able to beat him at gifting.
Every couple develops little rituals and pet names; as much as I love it when Boyfriend calls me a, “Wild Shannon.” Or does a ridiculous dance to music down the street or insists on singing, “Hey sexy lady, Shannons.” My favourite ritual is the competition we add to events always trying to make the other happier. Finding the perfect gift isn’t about spending the most money or going through the most effort it’s about getting to see that smile his face when he realizes that he got something he didn’t even know he wanted.
I’ve always loved finding the perfect gift for someone, when I was 13 I made my mother cry with a pair of diamond earrings, but it’s different with Boyfriend I want so much to make him happy and I use birthdays as an excuse to be extravagant. In this case it was designing a Muppet, shipping it to a friend’s place in New York and then having them ship it to Toronto to be honest though I’m not entirely sure how I’m going to top this one. Is there a nerd boy equivalent of a giant freaking diamond? Like a gold plated PlayStation or a comic signed by Stan Lee, these are thoughts for another day.
Today I will rest easy knowing that I’ve won, for now.
